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Hard Choices Update: Mobile Gaming On The Cheap

By Jeremy Laird on November 14th, 2012 at 12:00 pm.

The good ol' days of mobile gaming for cheap...

We’ve dabbled with mobile gaming machines in Hard Choices passim. Gaming lappies are great, but they’re also punitively pricey. What if laptops with tolerable gaming chops were on the verge of an epic price drop? That might just be the case courtesy of Intel’s upcoming Haswell processors and a funky little software layer from a little known third party. For clarity, the context here is relatively low-end gaming portables, not full-on desktop replacement sorts. But if you’re strapped for cash or just looking for something casual for away days, read on.

This story starts at the tech jamboree that is Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco back in September. It was the first I’d missed in the better part of a decade I’ve been a hardware hack. But even from my dislocated vantage point in Blighty it was obvious that IDF 2012 was a dud. Intel doesn’t do exciting CPUs any longer. It’s struggling to get its chips into phones, which is its number one priority right now. Not a lot going on.

But Intel did dish some deets on the upcoming Haswell architecture which is basically its next CPU design for boring old PCs. They’re due out early next year and likely to be known as the Intel Core i-something 4000 series. The CPU side of Haswell looks super boring. No more than four cores, a few tweaks to release a little IPC, maybe 10 to 15 per cent more performance. Yadda yadda.

Intel’s big idea: Chips with everything. Except for phones. Damn those phones

Now, as we all know Intel’s mainstream CPUs include an integrated graphics processor on-die. Haswell will be no different. Intel hasn’t completely unloaded regards the full details of Haswell’s updated 3D engine. But it’s divulged enough dirt to provide some insight.

Combine that with the work a certain boutique graphics outfit known as Lucid Logix has been doing to improve frame rates on low end GPUs and you have the prospect of properly playable integrated graphics.

And integrated graphics are cheap. In fact, they’re more or less free. So let’s look at the details, starting with the hardware part of the equation. Haswell carries over pretty much the same graphics execution units as the current Ivy Bridge gen of Core i-somethng 3000 chips. That includes the Intel Core i5-3570K which is the RPS gaming chip of choice on the CPU side.

So it’s mostly clocks and unit counts that will separate Haswell from earlier Intel graphics. For the record, there will be three hardware options, GT1, GT2 and GT3. They’re thought to offer 10, 20 and 40 graphics execution units each. For context, the fastest current Intel Core processor has 16 graphics units. Sorry, I know this stuff is a bit dull, but it’s worth understanding.

Intel’s claiming Haswell graphics will be twice as fast as Ivy bridge, so the assumption here is that the 40-unit version will be a little down clocked in the quest for better power and thermal management. Whatever, it’s a big step up in terms of hardware.

The other part of the package is Lucid’s new Dynamix software. Lucid is the graphics upstart that has enabled, among other things, Intel to fix its broken integrated graphics so that you can use the QuickSync hardware video encode engine with a proper discrete graphics card installed. Lucid’s party trick is basically getting GPUs to run in parallel, even when they’re made by different companies.

Its latest ruse involves a software layer that sits in front of a PC game and has a sniff of everything being asked of and sent to the graphics card. Every frame in the graphics pipeline is analysed and optimised for performance.

Not exactly the obvious choice for a gaming portable

And yes, this does miccionan reducing image quality. According to Lucid we’re talking a few digits of image quality in percentage terms in return for – wait for it – a doubling of performance. Lucid was showing the technology off to IDF attendees and according to a chum of mine, it really works.

Whether you’ll be happy to stomach – or even notice – the drop off in quality is, of course, the key question. I haven’t seen it in action, so can’t comment. But if it is acceptable, then you have the prospect of integrated Intel graphics four times faster than today’s. And I would guestimate that will put you in playable territory for a majority of games.

The implication is that all manner of laptop form factors will suddenly become viable for pukka PC gaming, including Ultrabooks and maybe even tablet convertibles, though we may have to wait one more processor generation for the latter to come.

There’s an obvious one snag, of course. Intel’s record for producing good, reliable graphics drivers with broad game game compatibility. It doesn’t have one. Things have undoubtedly been getting better and this is one area where the carry-over execution unit architecture will help. It’s not a new design needing all new drivers. So, you never know.

Anyway, colour me tantalised. A gaming-capable tablet-convertible Windows 8 machine for £500 in the foreseeable future? Or portable gaming chops for a cheap ‘n cheerful £350? Sign. Me. Up.

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Microsoft Said to Push Out Windows’ Sinofsky After Clash
By Dina Bass - 2012-11-14T05:01:00Z

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) pushed out Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows operating system division, after clashes with executives, including Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, people with knowledge of the move said.

Sinofsky’s duties were reassigned to Julie Larson-Green, who will take charge of all software and hardware for Windows, and Tami Reller, who will add oversight of the Windows business to her responsibilities in marketing and finance, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said in a statement on Nov. 12. Both will report directly to Ballmer, effective immediately.

The company had grown concerned about Sinofsky’s ability to get along with other senior managers at a time when Microsoft needs more cross-product coordination, the people said. Ballmer is putting in place a new team to start planning the next upgrade fresh on the heels of the release of the latest version of Windows. The moves underscore pressure on Ballmer to fight back against Apple Inc. (AAPL) and other mobile device makers that are winning over customers.

“We hold Sinofsky in high regard as a technical visionary and his ability to deliver complex products on a timely basis,” Rick Sherlund, an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc., wrote in a research report. “Microsoft’s press release implies some tension within Microsoft and references the need for collaboration.”

Like Forstall

Sherlund compared Sinofsky’s exit to that of Scott Forstall, who is departing Apple after struggling to cooperate well with his fellow senior executives.

Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, fell 3.2 percent to $27.09 at yesterday’s close in New York. The stock has climbed 4.4 percent this year.

Sinofsky didn’t respond to a request for comment.

A 23-year Microsoft veteran, Sinofsky is departing less than a month after the release of Windows 8, the latest version of the computer operating system, and Surface, the company’s first foray into the tablet-hardware market. The timing of his move is unrelated to the quality of the products or their reception in the market, said one person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.

While Sinofsky had his protégés and devotees, he often locked horns with people outside his inner circle, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly about it. He sometimes rebuffed requests from senior leaders, including Ballmer, if they didn’t mesh with his plans, these people said.

Secret Tablet

As head of the group that crafted the tablet, Sinofsky refused to show the device to other teams and even CEO Ballmer until very close to its completion, one person said. Ballmer had been concerned for years about Sinofsky’s tussles, including with Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie, who left in 2010. Ballmer set those aside to get Windows 8 finished, the person said.

Sinofsky’s prickly tendencies extended to partners. The executive went so far as to call executives at other companies to complain over interviews they gave, one of the people said.

Still, Sinofsky’s departure leaves Microsoft without another senior leader who has shaped much of the company’s engineering strategy in recent years. Besides Ozzie, other senior executive departures in recent years include Bob Muglia, J Allard and Robbie Bach.

Shipping Products

“One of the main things you lose by not having Steven Sinofsky there is having a person who has 20-plus years experience in and around the company as a leader and as somebody who has shipped products reliably,” said Wes Miller, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, based in Kirkland, Washington. “Windows 8 and Windows RT and Surface have not yet proven themselves in the market so it’s just unusual and a little disconcerting.”

Sinofsky, who joined Microsoft in 1989, had spent most of his career working on the Office suite of products until he shifted to Windows in 2006. He stabilized that division after Vista, an earlier iteration of Windows, met with poor reception.

Once considered a possible successor to Ballmer, Sinofsky more recently had failed to stem the loss of PC customers to rivals, including iPad maker Apple. Revenue at the Windows division had fallen short of analysts’ estimates in six of the past eight quarters amid lackluster demand for PCs and a shift in consumer preferences toward handheld devices.

He didn’t receive all of his bonus for fiscal 2012 in part because of a 3 percent decline in sales at the Windows division and the company’s failure to meet requirements of a 2009 agreement with with the European Commission, according to a regulatory filing last month.

Female Engineer

Larson-Green, who joined Microsoft in 1993, had been vice president of program management for Windows and was one of the executives who came to the division with Sinofsky from Office.

Already one of the highest-ranking women at Microsoft, Larson-Green led the team that overhauled the design of Windows 8, opting for a start screen with tiles similar to the look of Windows Phone and eliminating iconic elements like the start button. Before that, she remade the look of Microsoft’s Office software for businesses by switching from drop-down menus to a bar across the top called the ribbon. Larson-Green was in charge of all program management, design research and development of all international releases for Windows 8.

She holds a master’s degree in software engineering from Seattle University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Western Washington University.

Fostering Collaboration

Like her former boss, Sinofsky, Larson-Green also turned to former Office colleagues once she got to Windows. She recruited Jensen Harris -- who had helped her develop the ribbon in Office -- to direct program management for the Windows User Experience. Harris and Larson-Green are so close they finish each other’s sentences, the two said in an October interview.

Larson-Green is known for her ability to collaborate and get other people to work together, said the person with knowledge of her promotion. She needed Sam Moreau, who was given oversight of Windows 8 design, to form a bond with Harris, Larson-Green said in the interview.

To break the ice, she sat the executives in a room, placed a bottle of wine between them and told them to get to know each other, Larson-Green said. The two forged a close relationship that became the underpinning of Microsoft’s overhauled Windows design, which has received plaudits from many reviewers.

Reller joined Windows in 2007 from the Microsoft Dynamics Division where she held a series of leadership positions. Microsoft promoted her to lead marketing and finance for the Windows business in 2009, reporting to Sinofsky.

Reller began her career in technology at Great Plains Software Inc. in 1984 while she was in college, and was the company’s CFO when it was acquired by Microsoft for $1.1 billion in 2001. She has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Minnesota State University Moorhead and a master’s in business administration from St. Mary’s College in jovenlandesaga, California.

Separately, the company yesterday said Andy Lees was named head of corporate development and strategy last month, reporting to Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein. Lees took over a role that has been vacant since Hank Vigil left the company in 2011.

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PC Sales Set to Decline For Years, Analyst Warns
07:48 - Wednesday 14 November 2012 by Zak Islam - source: Forbes

PC industry blamed for not recognizing and adapting to consumer's interest in tablets.

It's already a known fact that the PC industry is set to experience its first decline in over a decade due to emerging technologies, but an analyst has warned that the decline will continue for several years to come.

Barclays Capital's hardware analyst Ben Reitzes, who decreased his outlook for the division through 2016, warned that sales of "PCs could decline for many years to come". He blamed several factors for the expected decline such as increased interest in tablets, as well as confusion over Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system.

"We are lowering our 2012-2016 PC forecasts due to weak macro conditions, confusion around Windows 8, ongoing cannibalization from tablets, and an elongation in replacement cycles," Reitzes said in a research note. He blamed the PC industry for not recognizing and adapting to consumers' interest moving towards mobile devices.

We believe a new generation of consumers and IT workers are figuring out how to compute differently than those that started using PC's in the 90's - relying more on mobile devices and the cloud - as PC's see significant "task infringement" by the day. As a result, it can no longer be assumed that the PC market can remain in the range of 350 million units a year - and we argue that the PC replacement cycle is in the process of being elongated by 1-2 years, resulting in the loss of 50-100 million units in annualized demand by 2015. After years of denial, most PC industry players still don't seem to realize what is happening - and don't have contingency plans.

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Reitzes' 2012 forecast for PC units sold decreased to 352.75 million units, represent a 3 percent slip. His 2013 prediction stands at 338.34 million, a 4 percent decline from his previous forecast on sales figures for the ailing PC division.

Estimates for the tablet market, meanwhile, increased. 182 million units are expected to be sold in 2013, which was previously 146 million. In 2014, Reitzes increased his 139 million estimate to 230 million.

The analyst expects Apple to dictate the majority of the tablet market, at least through 2016. He stated that Google, Samsung and Amazon "have the ability to expand the non-Apple market quite a bit and we believe these 3 companies can sustain 30-40% share of the market (combined) over the longer term."

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artemis dijo:

pero tu no te dedicabas a jugar via pc??? :

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